Chapter Thirteen: Earth-level Martial Arts and the Recycling System

“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for slaying a Foundation Establishment Stage Level 2 cultivator. You have gained 1,000 experience points and a storage pouch.”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for slaying a Foundation Establishment Stage Level 3 cultivator. You have gained 1,000 experience points and a storage pouch.”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for slaying a Foundation Establishment Stage Level 2 cultivator. You have gained 1,000 experience points and a storage pouch.”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for leveling up. Current realm: Foundation Establishment Stage Level 2.”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for leveling up. Current realm: Foundation Establishment Stage Level 3.”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for inspiring fear in others. You have gained 150 reputation points.”
“……”

A string of system notifications echoed in Chen Xiang’s mind.

In the end, he only managed to catch up to two people; the man from the Demonic Sect and another Foundation Establishment cultivator both escaped. The group of Qi Refinement cultivators had long since fled without a trace, and Chen Xiang couldn’t be bothered to chase after them.

“Heh, who would’ve thought I could earn reputation points this way? What a fortuitous encounter,” Chen Xiang muttered to himself, then continued on toward Mistwood City.

Trouble found him just as he emerged from the forest. At first he felt helpless, but then delight surged within him—for all these opponents simply delivered him experience and level-ups. How could he refuse such gifts?

Mistwood City was a small city bordering the Shimmering Forest, but even so, the sight left Chen Xiang gaping in astonishment. Small city? The gates alone soared dozens of meters high, and the façade of the entire city was more luxurious than the Forbidden Palace in Beijing!

Chen Xiang marveled aloud, wondering what the imperial capital of the Southern Wing Kingdom must look like if even this city was so grand.

After entering the city, he breathed a sigh of relief—thankfully, the interior was not the endless sprawl of palaces he had imagined.

He found an inn, shut the door to his room, and forbade anyone from disturbing him. After days spent in the forest, he had not enjoyed a single restful night. Now, he was determined to sleep until the world went dark and the sun and moon lost their radiance.

He slept for an entire day and night, utterly at ease in a comfortable bed, free from ever-present danger. His body and mind finally relaxed.

Upon waking, Chen Xiang ordered a bucket of hot water and enjoyed a long, soothing bath.

“Hey, boy—do you have any soap? Or body wash?” he asked the attendant who brought the water.

The attendant stared at him blankly. “Soap? Body wash? What are those?”

Chen Xiang was momentarily taken aback, then remembered this was the world of cultivation—such things simply didn’t exist. He rephrased, “I mean something used for bathing, that leaves a pleasant fragrance after you wash.”

The attendant paused. “Sir, are you referring to flower petals?”

“Flower petals? That’ll do. Bring me a few pounds,” Chen Xiang said after thinking it over. He suddenly recalled the old dramas he’d watched, where people always bathed with petals—it seemed rather romantic.

“Sir, um… those are generally used by ladies when they bathe…” the attendant ventured cautiously.

“What of it? I want them. Can just plain water get you clean? Go on, I’m paying you, aren’t I?” Chen Xiang shot him a glare.

“Yes, yes, right away!” the attendant scurried off, muttering under his breath, “Such a delicate-looking fellow, who would’ve thought he’d be… what a pity!”

……

Chen Xiang leaned back in the wooden tub, arms draped over the rim.

“Ah, that’s the life!”

He let out a contented hum, rubbing a handful of petals over his body while glancing at his system interface.

With a thought, he opened his personal stats.

“Host: Chen Xiang
Realm: Foundation Establishment Stage Level 3 (Gaining Mastery)
Experience: 307/3000
Reputation: 313
Cultivation Method: ‘Chaos Codex’ (First Volume)
Profession: Cultivator
……”

The first thing he checked was his profession. Seeing ‘Cultivator,’ Chen Xiang nodded in satisfaction. Now that’s more like it—this is the kind of status I deserve now.

“Now that I’ve accumulated so many reputation points, I should exchange some for new martial techniques. Truly, this world of cultivation is survival of the fittest—I’ll need to grow stronger if I want to live,” Chen Xiang murmured.

If his strength hadn’t been sufficient yesterday, if not for those days spent honing his skills in the forest, he’d never be enjoying such a comfortable bath right now.

“Wait, I still have two gift packs I haven’t opened!” Chen Xiang suddenly remembered: the ‘Mysterious Gift Pack’ awarded for his first kill of a Foundation Establishment stage beast, and the ‘Growth Gift Pack’ for advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage.

With that, he opened his system inventory. Dozens of slots appeared before him, about fifty in total, a few already occupied—the two gift packs at the end.

“System, open the ‘Mysterious Gift Pack,’” Chen Xiang commanded mentally.

A gift box appeared before his eyes, opening to emit a radiant glow.

Chen Xiang felt a twinge of nervousness—who knew what treasures he might receive? If only it could be a peerless martial technique or a top-tier cultivation method!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Several streaks of light shot out from within.

“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for obtaining one Basic Void Escape Talisman.”

“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for obtaining one volume of Basic Invisibility Technique.”

“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for obtaining one Basic Substitute Puppet.”

Chen Xiang was dumbfounded.

“What the hell? Is this supposed to be a grand gift pack? I’ve still got a few Void Escape Talismans I haven’t used, and you only give me one more? What on earth is an Invisibility Technique? What’s a Substitute Puppet? Anything with ‘basic’ in front of it can’t be that great,” he grumbled, though he still checked the descriptions, just in case.

Basic Invisibility Technique: Once learned, allows the user to conceal their form, invisible to those below the Nascent Soul stage.

Basic Substitute Puppet: Can actively take a fatal blow for the host. Only effective against attacks from those below the Nascent Soul stage.

Reading the descriptions made him feel a little better. For now, both items could still be very useful—provided he didn’t accidentally provoke a Nascent Soul cultivator, in which case, he’d just have to accept his fate.

“Sigh, let’s see what’s in the other gift pack,” Chen Xiang said with a sigh.

“System, open the ‘Growth Gift Pack.’”

The box opened, radiance streaming out.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Several beams of light shot forth.

“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for obtaining one Basic Void Escape Talisman.”

“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for obtaining one Earth-tier Martial Technique Selection Right.”

“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for unlocking a new feature: the System Recycling Function.”

……

“Huh? An Earth-tier Martial Technique Selection Right? Ha! Not bad at all, finally something good,” Chen Xiang exclaimed in delight.

As for the recycling function—what could that do? He checked the introduction.

It turns out it allowed him to recycle unused cultivation methods, martial techniques, spiritual artifacts and so on, converting them into Mastery Points. These points could then be used to increase the proficiency of other techniques or artifacts.

“That’s a pretty handy feature. I was just wondering what to do with all those extra storage pouches,” Chen Xiang muttered.

He then selected the Earth-tier Martial Technique usage right.

“Ding! Would you like to use the Earth-tier Martial Technique usage right? Host may freely redeem one martial technique from the Earth-tier section.”

The system notification sounded.

“Yes,” Chen Xiang replied gleefully.

A system shop window popped up before him, displaying the Earth-tier section.

A dazzling array of martial techniques appeared before his eyes.

“Holy crap, what’s this? Emperor’s Imprint Art? Fivefold Wheel of Blazing Fire?” Chen Xiang leapt up in astonishment, first checking the high-level Earth-tier techniques.

Aren’t these the signature Dou Techniques used by Xiao Yan, the protagonist in ‘Battle Through the Heavens’? Even those are here?

He scrolled down—Three Thousand Thunder Phantom Body, Fuluo Threefold Mysteries, Five Elements Divine Light—famous techniques he instantly recognized.

“My god, my system is incredible!” Chen Xiang exclaimed in awe.

It could even pull techniques from other worlds—Chen Xiang had to admit he was impressed.

He looked carefully: these martial techniques were indeed expensive. The cheapest, a low-level Earth-tier technique, required at least one hundred reputation points, while the most expensive cost a full thousand.

With just over three hundred reputation points to his name, a few Earth-tier techniques would wipe him out. He had to admit, this free selection right was truly valuable.

Chen Xiang pondered for a full half hour before finally deciding on the Emperor’s Imprint Art.

This technique was extraordinary—mastering all five imprints could rival even a Heaven-tier martial technique. It was also pricey, costing eight hundred fifty reputation points.

He was tempted to pick the most expensive, but after reading the descriptions he realized it would be useless.

For instance, the Fivefold Wheel of Blazing Fire required five different kinds of flames, including four unique Heavenly Fires. The price for these Heavenly Fires nearly gave him a heart attack.

The lowest-ranked Xuanhuang Flame cost five hundred reputation points, while the Green Lotus Heart Flame—a fire he was most familiar with—cost a staggering twelve hundred!

No question, if he could afford four Heavenly Fires, he might as well just buy a Heaven-tier martial technique directly.

After using the free selection, Chen Xiang spent another two hundred reputation points to acquire the Three Thousand Thunder Movement Art. His speed was decent, but lacked technique—against strong foes, his shortcomings would be obvious at a glance.

“Ding! Would you like to cultivate ‘Emperor’s Imprint Art’?”

“Ding! Would you like to cultivate ‘Three Thousand Thunder Movement’?”

“Yes, yes,” Chen Xiang confirmed mentally.

“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for successfully cultivating the ‘Emperor’s Imprint Art.’”

“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Chen Xiang, for successfully cultivating ‘Three Thousand Thunder Movement.’”

As the two notifications sounded, Chen Xiang could feel his body grow stronger.

He opened his personal stats panel.

“Host: Chen Xiang
Realm: Foundation Establishment Stage Level 3 (Gaining Mastery)
Experience: 307/3000
Reputation: 113
Cultivation Method: ‘Chaos Codex’ (First Volume)
Martial Techniques: Emperor’s Imprint Art (Progress: 0%, mastered the First Imprint); Three Thousand Thunder Movement (Progress: 0%, mastered Thunder Flash)
Profession: Cultivator
……”

“I need to work on improving these,” Chen Xiang mused, stroking his chin.

Then he opened the storage pouches he had collected. Dozens of cultivation methods and spiritual artifacts.

Using the system detection, Chen Xiang found nothing particularly valuable, so he tossed them all into the recycling system.

“Ding! Successfully recycled ‘Cloud Dispelling Palm,’ gained five mastery points.”

“Ding! Successfully recycled ‘Fiery Cloud Fist,’ gained ten mastery points.”

“Ding! Successfully recycled ‘Heavenfire Sword Technique,’ gained twenty mastery points.”

“……”

“Ding! Successfully recycled fourth-grade Yellow-tier spiritual artifact ‘Demonflame Blade,’ gained fifteen mastery points.”

“Ding! Successfully recycled second-grade Yellow-tier spiritual artifact ‘Flying Sword,’ gained three mastery points.”

“Ding! Successfully recycled……”

“……”

“To be continued……”